The Miles Morland Foundation has announced the shortlist of 21 names for the 2017 Morland Writing Scholarships.

The Morland Writing Scholarship is an annual award given to African writers to enable them to work on a manuscript over a year without worrying about an income. Writers awarded a fiction scholarship will each receive £18,000, paid over the course of a year to allow them to take time off to write the book they have proposed. Non-fiction writers may be given £27,000 over the course of eighteen months, if they need to do additional research.

Previous winners of the scholarship now in its fifth year include names like Percy Zvomuya, Doreen Baingana, Abdul Adan, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Akwake Emezi, and Lidudumalingani Mgqombothi. Of these, only two have produced work from their scholarship; Yewande Omotoso (The Women Next Door) and Karen Jennings (Travel With My Father).

Of the twenty-one names in the running for the big monies this year, the largest contingent are from South Africa with six entries followed by four each from Nigeria and Kenya, two from Cameroon and one each from Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Gambia and Botswana. They are;

Gothataone Moeng – Botswana

Clementine Ewokolo Burnley – Cameroon

Nana Nkweti – Cameroon

Alemseged Tesfai – Eritrea

Dayo Forster – Gambia

Cheryl Ntumy – Ghana

Sitawa Namwalie – Kenya

Gloria Mwaniga – Kenya

Kiprop Kimutai – Kenya

Muthoni wa Gichuru – Kenya

Elnathan John – Nigeria

Eloghosa Osunde – Nigeria

Ukamaka Olisakwe – Nigeria

Umar Turaki – Nigeria

Fatima Kola – South Africa

Fred Khumalo – South Africa

Palesa Deejay Manaleng – South Africa

Elizabeth McGregor – South Africa

Tsholofelo Wesi – South Africa

Megan Ross – South Africa

Bryony Rheam – Zimbabwe

The judges, with Ellah Wakatama Allfrey from Zimbabwe in the chair, assisted by Femi Terry from Sierra Leone, and Muthoni Garland from Kenya, will meet on Dec 4th to select the 2017 Scholars. Their names will be announced shortly afterwards.